Across the Distance
by randomfics
Summary: They have forgotten each other, but only in their minds. Their hearts remember each other, and draw them back.


They don't know each other.

They have never met.

One is a Princess, a queen of an alternate dimension, where she guards the Sol Emeralds.

The other is a Nobody, from the far future.

They have never met, that much is written in stone.

She grew up in a palace, filled with servants who faithfully waited on her. She was alone, and she had no use for friends. She was- she was a Princess. She didn't need them.

He has a dueling set of memories. One set is of a perpetually gray sky, and heat that never let up. The other set is of blue sky, and cool rain. Of a sensation called cold, and a warmth that didn't try to bake him.

Neither of them were lonely until after they met Sonic.

* * *

He remembers a little of his former timeline, of battling against Iblis. Of knowing that unless he found some way of stopping Iblis, then his entire family would remain dead. Of thinking that there must be a better world then that of ash and lava. He was right.

She remembers a palace and quiet days and being completely alone. Of needing to be strong for all of her subjects. Of dedicating her life to pieces of rock. Of her family passing on before her, of mobians teasing her for her fire powers.

They know, without a doubt, they weren't lonely. But then, something changed. They changed.

He found the future, Sonic's future, his timeline, to be boring and dull. Lifeless. Like it was missing an important piece of a puzzle. He found the world to be cold, and it didn't make sense, because with Iblis around, it was always too hot. He wanted to go back, back to a place where he felt he belonged.

She found her world to be confining and cold. No matter how much she used her powers, she couldn't warm herself up. She found her thoughts drifting to Cream, and how the small rabbit taught her how to be a friend.

They came to the decision at the same time, yet not.

She lifted the Sol Emeralds above her head, as he lifted the Chaos Emerald.

_I want to go there. I want to go to where I am happiest._

The singular wish rang in their ears, echoing in their hearts. _I want to be happy. Take me to where I was happiest._

They arrive at different times.

He arrives in a time where Sonic fights to keep the world from being turned into cards. He helps. She doesn't go anywhere- but Sonic comes to her. Together, they fight Captain Whiskers.

He… figures he should go back to his time. He met with Sonic, and nothing has really changed. He holds the Chaos Emerald close. She watches as Sonic leaves, and wishes again. She clings to the Sol Emeralds. _I want to follow him._

This time the Sol Emeralds listen to her. This time the Chaos Emeralds don't listen to him.

And that is where they meet each other.

They appear in a world filled with what look to be sweets and candy. Eggman robots can be seen escaping off into the distance, and her first instinct is to follow them. It is a friendly voice, one that she recognizes very well that stops her.

"Whoa, look at all the sweet treats!"

"Seriously. The whole place reeks of sugar."

Her head turns in time to see the two-tailed fox swing around to take in all the sites. The blue hedgehog spots her, and he grins. "Apparently not," is his reply to Tails question.

She steps towards them. "Sonic, Tails, it's been too long." It hasn't been long at all, not for her, but she supposes that they don't need to know that. They express their surprise to see her there- she tells them that the crystals glowed and brought her here. It is the truth, but not the whole truth.

They don't need the whole truth.

They leave, after a few moments, intent on something else- Eggman probably. She wanders on.

He is surprised to find himself in this odd world made of sweets and candy. His dueling memories tell him that he has never tasted sweets before, yet at the same time provides him with warm summer memroies of eating too much until he felt sick.

He hears Tails say something about the future, and realizes they're talking about this odd thing in-front of them. He scoffs at the mere idea, "They think THAT is what the future is like? Please."

Sonic and Tails both look stunned to see him here- he's a little surprised too, but he's always one to run with the flow. So he cheerfully greets them with a, "Hey, Sonic. You planning on riding this thing? I'd give it a pass. The future's not all stone and buildings like that." It is filled instead with green plants, and beauty. All of which both of them worked hard for, despite Sonic's claims not to remember.

They part eventually- Sonic and Tails both have the look of hunting Eggman, and Silver is willing to let them do it. He's sure that if they need help, they'll ask.

He wandered away from the ride, drawn by the largest one of them all- She mirrors his actions. They head for the largest ride, the one that looked the most interesting.

They rounded a corner-

Two sets of golden eyes met and held. He stopped, feeling his telekinesis begin to itch, wanting to propel him forward, closer to her. She felt her flames, usually quiet and tame flicker and burn brighter. Her tail flicked upwards. His ears twitched, and his mouth opened- to say something. Anything.

"Hey! Heading to the ride as well?"

That… wasn't what he meant to say. But she smiled at the words, gracefully nodding. Matching eyes softened at each other, as she pointed, "I believe Sonic headed this way as well."

Neither of them felt how odd it was that they both instinctively felt the other was looking for Sonic. That was just who Sonic was. But the silver hedgehog lifted himself into the air, using his powers to speed over to her, until they were side by side.

_Right where I belong. _

She began walking towards the ride, his strides matching to hers. They moved in sync, without having to consciously think about it. As they walked, she asked, "How did you come here?"

"Oh, I was trying to get a Chaos emerald to get me somewhere, when it brought me here. How about you?"

"I asked the Sol Emeralds to bring me here." She said calmly.

He looked surprised, glancing around at the sugary sweet surroundings. "This doesn't seem like your type of place. I thought you'd rather be at the Olympics or something."

"Olympics?" she questioned.

He nodded eagerly, quickly spilling all of the information about it to her. "We still have them in my time, but its where you do a bunch of sports, and compete for the gold medal! It only comes around once every four years though!"

"Four years hmm?"

"Yep!" He gestured slightly, picking up a small round ball. He sent it swirling through the air ahead of them, as if scouting the way for anything to leap out at them. She kept her flames on alert, looking for anything that might harm them. "But this Year is Winter Olympics, when they focus on the winter sports." He grinned, "I can't wait for all of that snow! I haven't seen that much snow before!"

She nodded, and murmured, "Then I shall attend as well."

"Sweet!"

The ball dropped to the ground, forgotten about. A yellow and red robot appeared, approaching them at a decent speed. They both turned to look at the robots, amused.

"Oh, Hey! It's some of Sonic's friends. Hello!" The yellow one spoke up first. The red one glared at the first, hissing something softly.

"Ignore him. Now, face our challenge!"

Her good mood took a complete and utter nosedive. He was still smiling away, but she just wanted them to _leave._ "If it will make you two quiet down."

"Heh, I'm eager to see what the robots in this era can do."

They sprang into action in the same breath. He took to the air, sending his powers spiraling outwards. Trash cans, signs, anything not bolted down to the floor rose to the air, circling around his head in a tornado of destruction. She charged below, covering him and buying time for him to gather his weapons. Flames sprouted from her hands, scything out like deadly whips.

She didn't even get halfway across the room before the yellow one said, "Flames and mind powers?! Pretty. Like fireworks!"

Surprise crossed her face, mirrored by his up above. It wasn't often that the ones they were fighting stopped to chitchat about how _pretty _their powers looked. The yellow one was grabbed by the red one, with the quick command to, "RETREEEAT!"

They fled; moving faster then either one of them could react too. She frowned in disappointment to find her tag-team fight interrupted before they could get to their finishing move. "Pathetic."

He was similarly disappointed, objects flying back to their original place. "Where was the challenge in that?"

Still she supposed it was nice for it to be just the two of them again-

"Are you two alright?" Tails worried voice interrupted them.

He was already over his disappointment, replying with a smile, "Hey guys. You two missed the party."

She remembered why exactly Sonic and Tails were there in the first place, following up with a, "Looks like those two robots of Eggman's got away."

"Again? They're dim bulbs, but they're pros at running away." There was smile plastered across Sonic's face as Sonic talked, not used to having the tables turned like this.

There was a sigh from beside her, "They popped out as soon as we got close to this ride."

"Hmm, perhaps it merits a closer look." She suggested- It would be nice to check it out, just the two of them, to see if they could continue their battle of before.

Tails did not catch her meaning, turning to Sonic. "What do you think, Sonic?"

Sonic took off in a rush of blue. Tails laughed, as she shifted slightly, wondering why exactly she was so annoyed. Next to her, golden eyes stared up at the ride in amusement. "Hey, how do we get out of here anyways?"

With Sonic taking care of everything, neither one saw much meaning to sticking around. "Oh, just go back and follow the traction beam back to the main planet and take the elevator down to Mobius." Tails pointed to a sign across the small plaza. "There's a map over there. Are you guys headed on down?"

"Yes." He replied thoughtfully. "If Sonic doesn't find anything, then we might as well head back. It looks like you two have everything in hand."

She nodded in accordance to his words. "This much sugar is giving me a headache."

Blue flashed before their eyes, "Easy as pie."

She nodded, having spotted the blue blur destroying robots on his way through. "Nicely done, Sonic."

He followed up her compliment with a question, "So, what was there?"

"Eh, nothing special." Sonic replied with a shrug, nodding to the silver hedgehog that had spoken.

She frowned slightly, thoughtfully staring at the path. "I see. Perhaps we jumped to conclusions, then."

Tail laughed, "I almost feel bad that those robots picked a fight with you two."

"Heh, talk about unlucky." Sonic agreed with his little brother.

The hedgehog next to her laughed, adding in with an, "Right?"

She turned to him, a flush creeping up her cheeks. "Don't exaggerate. I merely defended myself. And it was soon obvious how weak they were. I pulled my punches." She had wanted to draw it out, to savor the fight with him. And he should know this, should know her battling style-

There was a knowing look in his eyes that reassured her, though Sonic shook his head in disbelief.

But it was soon over, with Sonic and Tails taking off to defeat Eggman. They were headed on, content in their friendship. They were left behind, but neither one was unhappy with that decision.

They didn't even have to question each other- they took off for the surface of Mobius. It was clear that sooner or later, Eggman's latest scheme would literally blow up in his face. And while neither doubted their combined ability to fight off anything that may happen, they saw no reason to stick around.

Instead, as they walked towards the entrance, they talked about their plans for the Winter Olympics, figuring out which sports would be played, and what each would compete in. As they walked, that dark spot that Sonic had left behind in them eased, without their noticing.

"Hey Blaze, it's kinda odd don't you think? It's like we've fought together before."

"It doesn't matter Silver." She reassured him, "A friend of Sonic is a friend of mine."

Neither realized they had never told the other their name.

-end-

* * *

_a/n: This is based primarily on the hand-held console games. If you like, please don't forget to leave a review! I hope in Sonic Lost World, they'll do something with this two's friendship._


End file.
